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158 reviews for:

A Necessary Evil

Abir Mukherjee

3.88 AVERAGE

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Well written, engaging, and historically interesting. The police Captain and his Sargeant sidekick are nicely developed.

Enjoyed the journey back to 1920's India. Appreciated that the whole colonialism aspect is not sugar coated. Enjoying the flawed characters.

Had to return to library. Will try again.

Repetitive.

2.5🌟

Wyndham and Bannerjee are accompanying a visiting Indian prince in Calcutta when he is assassinated. The assassin escapes but later they are on the verge of arresting him but the assassin commits suicide. Case closed. Hardly. It seems the prince was the heir to a native state and was looking to take it out of the British orbit. But the assassin was garbed in religious attire and markings. Politics or religious motive?

The two end up visiting the prince’s home state where they believe the threat originated from. What ensues are more murders and palace intrigues that leave the reader’s head spinning. Strangers they must proceed cautiously as they sort who exactly are their friends and who they can rely upon for support. Strangely the British colonial government seems more of a hindrance than the sovereign native state. There’s also a nice discussion about the pursuit of truth and justice sometimes not being synonymous. Some great lines too like this one that caused me to laugh— “There’s something inherently untrustworthy about a man who knows how to dance.” Lots of action with some grisly deaths too. Surprises abound until the final pages.

Nuevas aventuras en la India colonial.
Bien.
adventurous informative mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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